Earl Grey
by viettvnt
Summary: So every time someone says they're drinking Earl Grey...I can't help but think they might be implying something...Kufufufu  Charles GreyXOC
1. Devious

**Vietvn: Ahahahaha~ I've risen from the dead once more. Let's face it, all my other stories are like...dead because stupid me have no idea where to go with it till I get some sort of epiphany OTL sorry to the readers who are eager to know what's gonna happen next T.T And stupid me for having a questionably A.D.D mind for coming up with other story ideas. This isn't exactly a Christmas special or anything, it's just a random short story I came up with that you can take as a Christmas present~? XD**

**Anyways MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL~~ ^^ I hope you're enjoying your holidays, getting fat on food and partying with the family or just forever alone at home...on the computer...all day...(like me...T.T) and HAPPY NEW YEARS~~!**

**Since this short story is too damn long to be one gigantic...story thing..I've split it up in chapters so enjoy~!**

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**Start; Devious**

"You always seem to request Earl Grey as your choice of tea whenever you come visit me, Lady Tomoe." Queen Victoria laughed lightly, "No doubt your favourite tea I assume."

"Indeed." The Japanese noble lady said light heartedly, smiling a bit. "The taste of it is quite exquisite; much different from Japanese green tea. It has a richness to it that seems to have me addicted."

The porcelain of the expensive china tea cup touched her lips and tilting it ever so slightly, Yuuka Tomoe let the dark liquid travel through her pink lips and into her mouth before swallowing it. The eighteen year old smiled, dark hazel eyes gleaming satisfactorily as the familiar taste of the English tea flowed through her system. Black hair, styled in a Hime cut was held up in an arrangement of black chopsticks with dangling silver chains of butterflies at the ends. Perched on top of her head was a small top hat, tilted slightly at an angle forward with black and white feathers at the side for decorations.

The top hat matched with the rest of her Victorian riding outfit; a black velvet coat with a slightly high collar and a deep v-neck though the white silk, ruffled ascot covered mostly anything revealing and a black silk skirt, reaching just mid calf (revealing black stockings underneath) with petticoats lined with white lace trimmings. Carefully setting down the teacup on the saucer she was holding, Yuuka relaxed back into the plush seat across from where Queen Victoria was sitting. She watched the old woman take a sip of her tea, eyes shut calmly before breathing out pleasantly. Opening her eyes once again, the queen addressed the young noble lady.

"So...how are..affairs in Japan? Are they adjusting well to becoming a more...'Westernized' society?" [1]

"Of course, our country has adopted very well to westernization and industrializing. I'd say that this has got to be the best thing that's ever happened for the country..." Yuuka said smoothly, taking another sip of her tea. Her eyes suddenly held a gleam of underlying meaning; _oh yes _she thought, _soon Japan will rock the European world off of its high pedestal..._

"Lady Tomoe...?"

"...Hm? Oh! Pardon my rudeness you Majesty, I was just mulling over affairs in my thoughts...A lot has happened since the whole...'Westernization' thing..."

"But business for you are still thriving yes?"

"Yes, I'm-..."

"Your Majesty we're back~!"

A small, almost exasperated sigh finally escaped from the ever silent John Brown, the queen's loyal aide (which nearly startled Yuuka; she completely forgot that he was standing just a little behind the queen's chair). Despite the call being a good distance away and behind closed doors, it still resounded quite clearly throughout the royal palace. Soft clacks of boots against tiled, marble floors gradually drew nearer and nearer until the double doors to the vast study room the queen and the Japanese noble lady resided in burst open and revealed a white haired man whose handsome face had a grin adorning it. Followed closely by the happy queen's officer was the more stoic of the two. Yuuka had seen them around before but hadn't so much as inquired their names; she only knew them as their infamous code-name, 'Double Charles.'

They approached the queen but stopped a good distance, bowing lowly in respect before straightening up.

"Charles, Charles." The queen greeted pleasantly. "I assume no troubles?"

"None at all Your Majesty." Taller Charles replied dutifully. Other Charles looked disinterested in their 'report' (therefore letting taller Charles do all the talking) and instead, opted to smirk knowingly at Yuuka. _There he goes again, that infuriating bastard..._ She thought sourly on the inside but on the outside, she remained calm and quiet as the queen was distracted with whatever taller Charles had to report on their recent job outing.

As mentioned before, Yuuka had seen the two officers around but only when they come in on their tea and conversations to give the queen a report on their daily job/errand outing (like now). But every time this happened, other small things also followed to repeat itself as well. Like for instance, white haired Charles always bursts in with a grin on his face, taller Charles remains stoic as ever. They bow, and taller Charles begins to give their report while white haired Charles (for some odd reason that Yuuka didn't like) begins to smirk at her knowingly as if he caught her doing something wrong.

She didn't like the look in those storm grey eyes; it's as if he was planning something or knew something she failed to pick up on. What was worse was that she couldn't find any way to tap into that head of his to try and figure out _what _exactly (if there was any; maybe he was just messing with her head). And what was annoying was that he did this **Every. Single. Time **she visits and was having tea with the queen and won't stop until he was dismissed with taller Charles by the queen. Oh the two don't leave the room though when they're _dismissed_ (much to Yuuka's disappointment), they just stand off to the side somewhere near the queen and Yuuka would then proceed to ignore them; still feeling steely eyes on her.

At times like those, it was difficult to concentrate or keep up a conversation with the Queen.

"Lady Tomoe,"

The call of her name from the old woman jerked her out of her thoughts; Yuuka only hoped she didn't wear a scowl on her face that reflected her thoughts.

"Yes, Your Majesty?"

"There is a ball coming up and I will be hosting it in the grand hall of the palace. I would very much like you to attend; seeing as how you're my **favourite** tailor!"

Yuuka chuckled lightly at the remark, bringing the back of her black gloved hand to her mouth. "You're too kind Your Majesty." Her family was well known for their extravagant suits and dresses of the latest fashion and not to mention made out of the luxurious fabrics commonly known as velvet, silks and the like. It certainly helped her reputation that the queen herself bought her dresses or on some occasions, custom make her gowns. Costly, but what would you expect? It was from the best of the best if she did say so herself. And since she was now made the head of the family, being that she was the eldest daughter of her father who passed on such skills to her, she was privileged to be acquainted with the queen enough to make yearly trips to her palace for tea.

"I insist that you attend this ball Lady Tomoe, I am certain that it will prove to be advantageous to expanding your business." With saying that, John Brown stalked up to her and presented an invitation on a silver platter as well as a letter opener. Reaching over to it, Yuuka took the cream envelope and with a quick swipe of the letter opener, tore the side of it open to let the folded paper fall out neatly into her waiting hand. Unfolding it, she scanned over the cursive text.

"An auction you say...?" Yuuka inquired.

"Precisely, all the money funds will be donated to charities of course. If it's alright with you, a gown of yours that you made for me will be amongst the many rare goods that will be auctioned off. Money made from selling the gown will be given to your expenses towards opening a shop here in England."

The young Japanese noble lady pondered; since she was still oh so young and running a business basically on her own, her only trade monopoly was within her own country. But even then, only the wealthy Japanese could buy her attires...But still, since Japan was 'Westernizing', trade routes should've expanded which means nobles of England can have her stuff shipped to them which means more money for her because of shipping taxes. Oh but wait, her business -let's face it- was almost entirely dependent on the queen (seeing as how she's a regular custom as well as a personal tailor). So this auction should prove to make her name be even more well-known afterward...If she can't open a shop here then she'll still get a public debut...Why not?

"I will be most honored to accept this invitation." Yuuka smiled.

"Excellent! The ball will be held in three days and as always, you are most welcomed to enjoy your stay here at the palace till then."

"Oh I could never-..."

"Nonsense! Your hard work will be recognized! Oh! Lady Tomoe since I believe this is to be your first major social gathering here, I think an escort will be most fitting."

"Oh Your Majesty you-..!"

"Charles!"

Dear God no that woman cannot be...

"Yes Your Majesty?" came two replies. Please not-...

"Grey." Yuuka visibly saw the white haired man's smirk widened as he stepped up from being in line with his counter part. Yuuka resisted the urge to groan out and face plant herself on the table. Of all the men she had to pick...

"Yes Your Majesty~?" His voice dripped with fake innocence, trying to mask that underlying pleasure of seeing her shocked expression. Yuuka finally confirmed that he was **definitely** up to something and unfortunately for her, his plan was going well under way (and she **still** doesn't know exactly **what**).

"Since you're a noble yourself, I think you'll be fitting to escort Lady Tomoe to the ball. Can I be assured that you'll take good care of her well- being during those time?"

"Of course~ I won't let her out of my sights."

"I trust you Charles."

Charles Grey turned his storm grey eyes to lock with Yuuka's dark hazel ones, the smirk ever present on his face. Placing a hand over the right side of his chest, he gave a humble bow.

"Charles Earl Grey at your service~"

"Yuuka Tomoe, a pleasure." She managed to say while keeping a smile on. _Look at him; __**smirking**__ like he's __**innocent**__..._

Yuuka felt her head go slightly hazy from all of her internal raging and happenings; maybe she should retire from this tea session and get some fresh air. A nice walk throughout London sounded nice.

"If I may excuse myself Your Majesty," Yuuka started as she got up, pushing back her chair lightly. "I would like to tour around the shopping district of London for a while. Maybe pick up a few things for the ball."

"Oh certainly dear! Grey, since you're her escort please insure that she stays safe."

"Oh no need for that, I wouldn't want to trouble any of you with something so petty..." No really, it was bad enough that he was her escort for the ball but to make it worse by making him her **personal** escort throughout the days of her stay?

"No! The streets of London are dangerous for a pretty face like yours to be walking around by themselves."

"Please, you've done so much for me already. And I'm sure Mr. Grey would like some rest after getting back from a job..." Yuuka insisted gently, inching away from the small tea table that everyone seems to be gathered around. She sneaked a quick warning glance at the still-smirking Charles Grey. Honestly, she was quite capable of handling herself out on the streets.

The queen sighed and finally gave in to her, "Alright, if you're sure..."

"Positively. Have no worry Your Majesty." Yuuka smiled gently; she knew the old woman only meant well but still, maybe if it was anyone but Charles Grey then she would've reconsidered. "I'll be off now, tea today had been wonderful as always." With a small curtsy, the Japanese female began to make her way to the double doors. With quick strides, John Brown had already reached there before her and already had the door held open for her. Nodding in quick thanks, Yuuka made her way out of the palace and onto the streets of London, breathing in the cool fall air deeply with a brighter smile on her face.

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"Rather stubborn isn't she?"

"Grey."

"Yes Your Majesty~?"

"Watch her like a hawk..."

"...With pleasure~."

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**Happy Holidays~~!**

[1] In my world history class, we're studying imperialism and I vaguely recall how Japan took advantage of America's 'westernization' of their country (built up military, got their economy up, etc. and eventually beat Russia in a war but in this story that's way before that X) ) Just thought I'd add that in to you know...yeahh... XD**  
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	2. Orders

**Vietvn: Second Part! So productive ne? XD I hope I kept both Charles in character DX And excuse any other grammatical error, I just kinda scanned through it XD**

**Enjoy!**

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**Second Part; Orders**

Wandering through the streets of London was dreary in itself. There was an overcast today and there were a lot of beggars, orphans running about (most likely looking for a steal at something), carriages that contained nobles going about on their business and you know, the occasional sketchy looking corners where hobos love to hang out.

The clicking of her black heeled ankle boots was the only sound she focused on as she walked down what was considered the fashion district of London. Her dark hazel eyes scanned along the many shop windows she passed by. Some dresses seemed nice, some too gaudy for her taste. She rounded a corner of the street and found herself having to walk through a small archway. Looks a little sketchy but what part of London didn't? Besides, there were more shops on the other side.

Yuuka proceeded to walk, passing by a man but thinking nothing of it. That was until he suddenly stepped up to her and revealed a bouquet of red roses.

"Excuse me miss, I can't help but notice that you're so pretty so I thought these roses would be more fitting to be with you."

"Aww...Thank you." Yuuka smiled, leaning in to smell the roses presented to her but upon leaning back, she was well aware of the face that was dangerously close to her neck and something sharp pointed to her back.

"Wouldn't mind comin' with us then missy?"

"Hm.." Was all Yuuka said before in a swift motion, she twisted her body to the right, using an arm to knock the attacker's knife arm away from her back and bringing up her other arm, used her elbow to connect a hard hit to her attacker's head. The man let out a pained cry, being caught by surprise but before he had time to recover, Yuuka brought her knee up to his crotch and in the momentum, reached under her skirt to the black tanto strapped to her thigh, unsheathing it and pointed the blade directly to the man who offered her the flowers. Yuuka wasted no time to advance on the man who backed away fearfully, only stopping when he had his back pressed against the stone wall of the arch which allowed Yuuka to rest the blade against his neck.

"Silly person," She said with a smile, taking the roses away from his hand. "But thank you for the flowers..." Casting an innocent smile to the stunned male, she let her blade graze his neck before pulling it back and concealing it again. Once she did, she turned and went on her way.

"My lucky day, I get flowers." Yuuka said, musing to herself as she inspected the vibrant red roses in her hand.

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"Phipps I think I'm in love."

"Why did you have to drag **me** into this too?"

"Not like you had anything better to do~"

"Ugh...Look, Her Majesty expects her to return to the palace to stay for the days she's visiting so better get her back knowing how stubborn she is."

"Of course~! What do you take me for? I am a professional."

"Sometimes I question that..."

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Eventually it came to sunset when you decided to sit down and have a rest. Yuuka watched as Londoners began to head in, some coming out, and the shops closing.

She was at a small cafe terrace, sipping on her proclaimed favourite tea once again and plucking away at the rose bouquet absent mindedly, chin resting in one hand.

"Bored are we?"

Startled out of her absent-minded state, she snapped her gaze up to find the insufferable white haired man known as Charles Grey sitting across from her, his own cup of tea in hand. How he managed to sneak up on her like that, Yuuka had no idea.

"What are you doing here?" Yuuka questioned, frowning a bit.

"Can't a man sit and enjoy some tea with a lovely young lady such as yourself?" He smirked, grey eyes trailing down to her cup. "Earl Grey again I see."

Yuuka huffed, getting up from her seat and turning on her heels to walk away from Charles Grey but he persistently pursued her.

"You know 'Earl Grey' was named after my family. Ironic because right now you seem so intent on loathing me when it's the complete opposite for a tea with **my** name attached to it."

"Because in case you haven't noticed," Yuuka hissed, making a sharp turn in hopes of losing the queen's officer. "the difference between you and a type of tea is that tea is more tasteful, unlike you. As well it doesn't look unappetizing like you **and** it's not as insufferable **like you**." Each insult was spat out with venom from the young Japanese woman with each step she took, eyes narrowed determinedly ahead of her instead of on Charles because then he would have seen how much a lie that really was. Well...the second part anyway. Anyone would be called a liar if they said Charles Earl Grey was anything but a handsome man. Of course Yuuka would never admit that out loud; it would just boost his ego. And of course, Charles Grey wouldn't have been such an insufferable person as Yuuka made him to be if he didn't always look at her like he was conspiring against her or, if she dared to say it, 'undressing her with his eyes'. She let out an indignant huff. Men...

She heard him chuckle lightly beside her and Yuuka risked a glance to the white haired Earl. He was walking leisurely (despite her haughty pace); arms behind his head and watching her from the corner of his eyes with that never-gone smirk on his lips. _It's that look again_... She seethed to herself, stopping abruptly in front of him and sent a hard edged glare his way. Her patient finally went flying out of the window.

"Why do you always look at me like I've committed some crime and you knew all about it?"

"Oh I see, frustrated that you can't get into my head? Is that why you hate me so much?"

"Tch." She looked away, rolling her eyes as she did. Like she'd admit that either.

"You know you could've just asked what was on my mind and I would've told you." Charles said, grinning like a mischievous child now.

Okay now he was just teasing her; she was definitely not in the mood for his games. Yuuka let out another indignant huff and turning on her heels, began to walk back to the inn she was staying at. It was well into the night and she was looking to have a nice warm bath and then just pass out on a nice warm bed.

"Going back to your inn?"

"Hmph."

"Ah ah ah." He suddenly appeared in front her, blocking her way, still grinning. "My orders are to insure that you accept Her Majesty's invitation to staying at the palace during your visit here in London."

"Since you seem to be playing messenger lately; tell her that I'll have to politely decline her invitation this time." Yuuka said before brushing past him, not catching the grin morph into a wicked smirk. He caught her wrist before she could walk away from him. Turning around to demand him to release her, Yuuka's sentence died on her tongue by the dangerous glint she saw in the steel grey eyes that now seemed to bore into her soul.

"Sorry love, but orders are orders."


	3. Guilty Pleasure

**Vietvn: So since this chapter is rather short, I'll upload it and give it to you guys XD Thanks so much for all the readers that have reviewed so far! ^^ Again, sorry for any grammatical mistakes X)  
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**Third Part; Guilty Pleasure**

"Rise and shine Lady Tomoe~!"

That voice...

"It's not good to be sleeping in so late~"

That annoying voice...

A shift of fabric caught her ears and suddenly from behind closed lids, something shined down brightly on her. Peeling her hazel eyes open, her vision was still cloudy with sleep as well as a light pounding from her head. Yuuka let out a small grunt; eyes not used to the bright light. Her head sunk back into a soft pillow...wait. Her brow furrowed and her muddled mind began to work and then suddenly...

Eyes snapping open, she bolted upright, hair flowing freely and whipping into her face from her action. Scanning the luxurious room, her eyes focused on the figure dressed in white standing just at the end of her bed, smirking and steel eyes gleaming with amusement.

"Grey..." She seethed.

"Today's breakfast is poached salmon and mint salad-"

"You knocked me out!"

"-with the side dishes of your choice; scones, toast or campagne."

"What about my things at the Inn?"

"And of course _Earl Grey_ will be served with these dishes..."

He finished with an almost suggestive smirk and a wink; Yuuka could only glare at him (despite feeling the heat rise to her cheeks) for being able to be literal on **both** terms. She could already smell the tea...and, if she tried hard enough,** him **(there was something slightly different about his smell...).

"You. Knocked. Me. Out." She repeated again with resentment. "And what about my things at the Inn?"

"Like I said; orders are orders. I can't exactly disobey them especially if they're from the queen herself." He shrugged apathetically as he sauntered closer to her bedside. She instantly curled back into the covers of the vast king sized bed but her pride kept her from shifting away towards the middle, keeping a wary eye on him. He leaned over her bed, placing a hand on the mattress and continued to lean in closer. Still, Yuuka's pride prevented her from retreating and so she found herself locked in an intense stare down with the Earl. Her brow furrowed and she inched her face just slightly away from the close proximity his face was getting to her's, forcing her to take in his boyish features; large grey eyes which were now half lidded, long lashes, smooth rounded jaw, and lush lips (well in her opinion..).

"Still wanna get into my head...?" His breath fanned over her own lips and she unconsciously bit her bottom one in response. She could almost feel his devious smile against her own skin. _Damn it... _His smell was overriding her senses; she could smell nothing **but** him. It was suffocating, overwhelming but intoxicating all at the same time.

Just when she was almost overwhelmed by Charles Grey, he suddenly jerked back and a rush of cool air suddenly greeted her, making her catch wind of his scent which coincidentally enough, was Earl Grey with a spiciness to it. What she also caught was the gleam of a slender blade just inches from touching her nose. Hazel eyes, now widened, centered in on the blade, breath suddenly caught in her throat as her eyes gradually traveled to the offender which was taller Charles; his gaze narrowed on Grey who currently stood a little farther from the bed now with inquiring eyes at his partner.

"It's rude to pressure our guest Grey." He stated sternly, withdrawing his saber to his holster. The white haired Earl merely huffed and turned towards the door, offering a farewell (saying something that his job was done here) and shooting another smirk at Yuuka's way before leaving. The Japanese female let out her breath in an exasperated manner, glancing over at the plates of food on the small silver trolley, suddenly not feeling up for breakfast.

"Forgive me on behalf of his actions." Taller Charles said, making Yuuka focus her eyes on him.

"It's fine...I guess you could say it's typical of him right?"

"...Something like that. And your things have been transferred from the Inn to the palace yesterday afternoon when you left for your stroll."

"Then it's no helping it...Oh, thank you I guess..." _It was the queen's plan all along...tch should've known better..._ She reached over to the cup of tea that was still steaming and glancing down at the murky liquid for a moment, she brought it up to her lips to let its taste fill her senses, ultimately reminding her of the Earl's scent just earlier. As infuriating as he is, she definitely can't come to hate him completely. It's just like how if anyone were to ask her to give up drinking that tea starting now, she wouldn't be able to do it.

_That bastard..._

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**Remember to R&R! ^^ Anyone catch that first chapter of Kuroshitsuji breakfast list reference? LOL I couldn't think of what a standard 'noble/royal' breakfast was so I just kinda... borrowed whatever Ciel was having LOL So I guess I should say, that's not mine. LOL**


	4. Escort

**Vietvn: Part fourr~~! Uhhh some people you will not know of will appear in this story; they're not important, I made them up to be...there...LOL but yeah just letting you know XD Hope you enjoy! ^^ And since fanfiction is still being dumb to me (taking out my exclaimation mark when I have them placed with a question mark =.=) So if there's any mistakes, I will not attempt to fix them on fanfiction because it's dumb like that... XD**

**Ps. Nevermind, it happens anyways =.=**

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**Fourth Part; Escort**

The day of the ball came faster than expected for Yuuka. During those days, Charles Grey bothered her to no end because he made it his duty, as her escort, to keep her company throughout most of the day. Charles Phipps (as she had learned) continuously apologized to her for any of his actions that might've upset her (not really). Charles continued to be an enigma behind a smile but Yuuka eventually came to terms with the white haired Earl. She was still resentful towards not being able to read him well but she found him a little less insufferable than before. This was probably because despite his teasing and tormenting, he had his moments of being... _**sweet**_ and _**gentlemanly**_, maybe even _**charming**_(God did she really just admit that? Or was she being delusional?).

Yuuka let out a sigh as she placed the last of her teardrop crystal earring in her ear. She stared into the vanity mirror she sat at, checking over her appearance. Her hair was done up in a half up do, hair curled slightly and brushed off to drape over one shoulder. Her eye was lined lightly with black eyeliner, lips were painted a pearl pink colour and pinching her cheeks a bit, she added a light pink tone to her pale skin. Reaching over, she took the matching crystal necklace and draped it over her neck; patiently hooking it in place. Satisfied, she got up from the small cushioned seat of the vanity table. Yuuka ran a hand over the strapless, champagne coloured, lace bodice of the dress, straightening any crinkles and fixing the gold satin sash that was tied in a bow to the right of her stomach. The bodice of the dress hugged her curves nicely and ended just where her hip started; the rest was a layer of matching colour tulle skirt that fanned out to reach her ankles, covering matching 3 inch strapped heels.

"Whoops, almost forgot..." Yuuka mumbled to herself, glancing over at the vanity table again. Her eyes landed on the satin, elbow length gloves (also the same colour as her dress). Slipping them on, she flexed her fingers to comfortably loosen the material.

Yes, Yuuka ended up having to have a dress of her's shipped all the way from Japan to England just for tonight's ball. She couldn't help herself; the dresses here were all either too poofy, too gaudy or too...Let's just say something she wouldn't want to wear. Sure her dress might be new, even a bit daring because it really showed off her curves, but Yuuka was a foreigner, she was sure she could use that excuse, right...? She smirked to herself as she made her way to her bedroom door. Upon opening it and stepping out, she was tempted to turn around and barricade herself in.

"Took you long enough."

Yuuka willed herself to take in deep, calming breaths and forced herself to shut the door closed to stand in the hallway with the Earl. He was still dressed in his uniform (rapier included), leaning casually in front of her bedroom door waiting for her.

"The ball is just starting...We have time to be fashionably late." Yuuka said smoothly. Charles chuckled and pushing off of the wall, he took a step closer to the Japanese lady, grey eyes piercing through her dark hazel ones. Yuuka shifted uncomfortably under his gaze but refused to give up ground. Ultimately though, her gaze shifted to look elsewhere. _Damn it, I must be getting soft..._

"You look stunning..." His voice came out huskier than she had imagined; it almost sent shivers down her spine. Her eyes drew back to Charles, he looked to be focused on...her lips? Before she could decipher any emotion from the depth of his grey eyes, a grin pulled at his lips and his eyes shut in childish glee. Turning to his side slightly, he offered an arm to her.

"Shall we?"

Yuuka stared up at the queen's officer perplexedly, slowly coming to a conclusion that she shouldn't get so agitated with not being able to read him so well; she seriously doubt anyone could! Sighing, she delicately laced her arm through his and let him escort her down to the main hall where the whole auction ball was being held.

The walk was silent and a little awkward. Still, Yuuka couldn't help but sneak glances at the Earl who seemed pretty content with staring forward. She took in his features again but then trailed her eyes to his unusual hair; not only in colour but also in style. It was a bit shaggy, chin length for the most part except for that one patch that went a bit past his shoulders. On closer inspection, Yuuka detected a slightly silver sheen to the snow white hair she had grown used to seeing. _I think he's probably the only person who can pull this look off well..._ A small smile made its way on her pink lips.

"Do I interest you?"

Caught off guard by his sudden question, Yuuka nearly tripped over her heels. Luckily for her, Charles kept her steady but the grin on his face widen ever so slightly at her mess up ("Quite clumsy aren't you~?" "Shut up!"). She glared at him once and scoffed, turning her head away from him. She was spared from his teasing when they arrived at the top of the steps descending down to the grand hall. Already Yuuka could see many nobles, men and women, who were gathered in small clumps according to their social grouping. Men wore lavishing suits while ladies wore flowing dresses and gowns of different colours and style. Everyone was served a glass of wine by the maids and other butlers of the palace as each and every person in the room held a glass as they talked. Yuuka's heart suddenly raced with nervousness and her grip tightened around Charles' arm. Smirking, he leaned down to whisper to her.

"Just remember to breathe."

Sending a half-hearted glare at him from the corner of her eyes, Yuuka complied with his advice by taking in one deep breath and slowly letting it out. Taking that as a sign, Charles began to lead her down the red velvet covered marble steps. It didn't take long before all eyes glanced their way and immediately a new hot topic started once every noble in the room figured out who was escorting whom.

Yuuka could swear that she didn't pass by any women in the room without having them gossip about her behind their fans to their fellow kind.

"Earl Grey! Good to see you made it!" Greeted a man in his thirties, dressed in a luxurious looking black velvet, coated suit. Yuuka was forced to stop her walking along with Earl Grey who turned with his usual grin at the approaching man.

"Nice to see you here too Sir Clover."

"My, with such a stunning woman. May I inquire who this is?"

"Oh! This is Lady Yuuka Tomoe from Japan. I'm her escort for tonight's ball." Charles introduced cheerfully. Yuuka smiled and curtsied a bit to the older man who offered a small bow in return.

"Sir William Clover, most pleasure to meet you."

"The pleasure is all mine." Yuuka answered back smoothly.

"OHHH MYY~~!" A shrill (and most enthused) voice exclaimed, completely ruining the pleasant atmosphere and startling Yuuka who whipped her head in the direction of where it may have came from.

"Oh great, he's here too..." She heard Charles mumble under his breath but before she could inquire who he was talking about, a flash of white clouded her vision and she soon found herself trying to get back her free hand from the grips of...a blond haired man.

"Yuuka Tomoe~! Dear, sweet lady of high end fashion~~! Ever fleeting and enchanting who never fails to intrigue the crowd with her rare beauty~! Like a white peacock amongst a flock of pigeons~! But behind even the most beautiful visage lies a fierce tigress ready to pounce~!"

_What...? _Yuuka could only stare incredulously at the shoulder length, blonde haired man who was currently fawning and nuzzling the gloved hand that was not clinging onto the white haired Earl for dear life. She sent a helpless glance at Charles who she thought would be enjoying the show of her getting harassed by this noble but instead found him equally distressed as her (maybe it was because she was quite literally, **dragging** him into this).

"If you don't mind Lord Chamber," Charles finally said, interrupting the blond's ridiculous fawning with a polite smile (Yuuka noticed the twitch on the corner of his mouth; he must be trying **really** hard not to pull out his rapier and cut the poor noble's arm off). Said noble glanced up from his position on one knee, blue-grey eyes shining with curiosity but soon grew wary at the sight of stormy grey orbs piercing through his. "Lady Tomoe would love to have her hand back."

Lord Chamber (as Yuuka now knew him by), nervously withdrew his grip from her gloved hand. Her body seemed to visibly relax once she was able to draw her hand away from him (unconsciously resting it on Charles' arm) but then visibly grew a little nervous when she felt an almost evil aura resonating from the Earl beside her. The blond noble laughed nervously, saying something about getting drinks before dashing off to perhaps harass someone else. A huff came from Charles and Yuuka turned to give a questioning glance as to who exactly was the man that just harassed her. As if reading her mind, he answered with the roll of his eyes.

"Lord Aleister Chamber, Viscount of Druitt. I'd advise you to stay away from him." Charles had begun to lead her away from the scene, thin eyebrows furrowed in irritation and for once a stern line replaced the constant smirk/grin on his lips. Yuuka looked back warily, almost to see if the Viscount was following them but turned back to Earl Grey in time to see a wicked grin starting to form. "That is, unless you want to be kidnapped and sold off to who knows where...Probably to be sacrificed as part of some ritual?"

Yuuka didn't like how Charles said that; if it was a joke then she sure as hell didn't like the idea of it. _I knew he was always a bit sadistic but this...!_

"I'm just teasing love~!" In a blink of an eye, Charles' grin had turned more playful, his eyes closed and arching in glee as he tapped her nose. Yuuka's brow furrowed and she swatted his black gloved hand away.

"Geez I won't ask where on Earth you got that idea from, you sadistic bastard."

"Hmm that's not very nice~~" Charles hummed, poking her nose again ("Will you stop that?"). "But seriously! He's such a pain to be around, and so annoying! With all that metaphorical nonsense; gives me a headache." He went on complaining while grabbing two glasses of wine a maid offered to him. He offered the second glass to Yuuka who took it with a small thanks. Grinning like always, Charles raised his glass slightly to her's in an action to toast.

"A toast to you, Yuuka-chan~" The Japanese female flushed visibly at the given suffix; since when did Charles pick up on such casual Japanese dialect?

"W-What? And where'd you learn that?" She hissed.

"You're blushing~! So cute~~" Charles cooed but then a grin made his way onto his face as an idea popped into his head. "Guess what I'm gonna call you from now on~!"

"H-Hey!"

"Cheers~!" With that, he clinked his glass against her's and took a good helping of the wine, leaving her stunned and blushing furiously.

"Grey..." She seethed; her grip on the wine glass was threatening to shatter it.

"Oh! This is actually good wine~! Don't mind if I take another~"

Yuuka let out an exasperated sigh, watching the Earl help himself to a second glass of wine. She stared down at her's and eventually gulped half of its contents down. Something told her she was going to need more to drink because this was going to be one long night...

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**R&R~! ^^**


	5. Duel

**Vietvn: It's another short chapter I know but bear with me cuz the next one is gonna be longer (and the last **_**real**_** chapter of this short story, I know, it's sad ;_;) I hope you enjoy it!**

**Are you ready for the count down? :D**

**Fifth Part: Duel**

The night was long as Yuuka had predicted; so long that she had wandered off by herself as soon as her dress had been auctioned off (Charles had left her earlier to assist with his partner with showcasing the items that were going to be auctioned). Almost expected, the dress she made for the queen was bought by that Viscount (who was almost hell bent on getting that dress when it was up for bidding). Still, she made quite a wad of cash -which she was happy- **and** she did get some recognition (and some requests) out of it all. She chuckled to herself; she was going to need more business cards.

She didn't exactly know where she was going, all she knew was that she needed to get away from all of the festivities and have some peace and quiet time. Yuuka paused in the middle of trekking down a hallway, leaning against the wall to remove her heels; they were killing her feet. Sighing, Yuuka felt relieved as her feet touched against the soft carpeting. As she was in the process of removing the last of her satin gloves, a voice abruptly cut through the silence of the empty hallway.

"There you are~!"

Eyes wide, Yuuka turned around and nearly toppled over as the face of Charles Grey loomed close to her's with a visible pout.

"G-Grey!" ("Charles is fine~")

"How could you leave the party so early like that~? You're missing all the fun!" Charles continued, blinking large grey eyes almost too cutely for Yuuka's liking. She turned away, backing up a little slowly from the Earl.

"I just need to get away from all the noise...I guess these big social gatherings aren't my thing..."

The Earl's gaze held her's for a little longer and gradually, the longer they stared, the narrower Yuuka's gaze became with suspicion. When she was about to inquire what he was staring at so intently, a devious smile began to form on his lips.

"Hm." Was all he said before he grabbed a hold of one of her wrist and began to drag her off somewhere.

"W-What? Wait! You're not dragging me back to the hall are you?" Yuuka asked feverously. She definitely didn't want to go back to a room full of snooty nobles (some of them are nice but as long as she knew the Viscount was still around, she wasn't quite up to having another encounter with him). _For Christ's sake I don't even have my heels on!_

"Nope! Somewhere better~!" Was her cheery reply as the Earl continued to drag her off down the hallway, turning left and then right and then before she could take back her wrist and demand where they were going again, Charles stopped in front of a pair of dark, cherry oak double doors. He wasted no time in opening the door swiftly and dragged her inside, doors shutting once the two entered. It was then that Yuuka yanked her wrist from the grips of Charles.

"What, where and **why** are we doing in..." She took a quick moment to scan where they were exactly (despite how dim it was); a large king sized, canopy bed, spacious room between the door and foot of the bed, a flaming fireplace with a small sitting area off to one side (with a decorated family shield and crossing swords hanging above it) and a Chinese clay soldier statue complete with a sword in its grasp. That was all she needed before whipping her head to face the white haired Earl again, eyes narrowed into a glare. "A bedroom! Of all rooms to pick!"

"Specifically **my** bedroom~" chimed in Charles (_Oh God that's even worse..._Yuuka thought) who stood near the fireplace, gazing at her with those piercing grey orbs that now seemed to glow due to the fire. The light from the hearth also managed to illuminate that devious smile on his handsome face that made Yuuka's warning bells go off in her head. Almost nervously, she glanced back at the door and made a reach to open it. Before she could even grasp the handle, Charles was already behind her and had his rapier's blade resting too comfortably against Yuuka's neck. _Damn it he's fast!_

With wide eyes, Yuuka stared warily at Charles from the corner of her eyes whose cheek was pressed against her's, making her feel the smirk that was adorning his face. Her chest rose and fell heavily from trying to keep her nerves calm; she could feel the cool surface of the blade pressing against her skin and was also aware that Charles had made it so that her back was flushed against his chest.

"C'mon Yuuka-chan~" He cooed against her ear. "Won't you play with me?"

_He wants to __**play**__ huh? Fine...beats socializing with nobles. And let's see how good the queen's officer really is..._

"Hm."

Charles jumped back, nearly getting hit by an elbow to the stomach by Yuuka and in a flurry of motion, she was already armed with her black tanto ("Do you always keep that under your dress?"), heels and gloves discarded on the floor.

"Fine...I'll _**play**_."

_**Play**_** :)) R&R ^^**


	6. Real Earl Grey

**Vietvn: Last chapter to this shorty story! I know, 'already?' But yeahhh, it is a short story after all X) I don't know, I really like how I was able to interact my character with Grey smoothly so I **_**might**_ **do little OVA's after this X) Enjoy! Again, sorry for any grammatical errors that I missed.**

**Ps. uhh...There's an implied smut here, nothing detailed of course but iono read on XD**

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**Sixth Part: Real Earl Grey**

Smirking in delight, Charles lunged towards the Japanese girl who parried his incoming blade and jumped away from the door to gain some distance (stumbling a bit because of her dress). At this, Charles grinned. _Let's see how long she can keep this up_. He started towards her again and began to attack her nonstop, all of which Yuuka blocked and countered each one.

"Wahh~ you're quite skilled with close combat." Charles praised, striking horizontally only for the Japanese to jump out of the way and land a couple of feet away from him, panting but still holding up her black tanto in a defensive stance. He watched her with calculating eyes but still had that ever present smirk on his lips.

"You can cut the bullshit _**Charles**_." Yuuka said, keeping a trained eye on the Earl standing nonchalantly in front of her. "I know you're just toying with me and I know the queen's officer is more skilled than that."

"Hm..." Charles mused, bringing up his rapier to inspect it, running a gloved finger over the flat side of the blade. "Observant, I'm impressed. But you're asking for it~" With a twirl of his rapier, he lunged forward. Hazel eyes widen as she barely had enough time to dodge his attack. Jumping right, she let out a surprise yelp before bringing up her tanto to meet Charles' rapier head on in a blade lock. Her breathing was heavy from the adrenaline rush and her arms shook from holding up the longer sword (which was dangerously drawing closer to her face). Charles' grin widened as he continued to put pressure on his blade.

"Impressive~ you're able to hold up such a small blade against my own." Yuuka gritted her teeth, not so much paying attention to what he had to say but more on getting his blade away from her face.

"But it's too bad." Charles continued; no sympathy behind his words whatsoever. Yuuka's eyes narrowed as she watched his eyes give off a dangerous glint. "I'm still stronger~"

"Gah!" In one fell swipe, Charles effectively knocked the tanto away from Yuuka's grip and in the split moment where she was completely defenseless and caught off guard, Charles aimed a swipe at her thighs. Yuuka felt the blade just barely graze the skin of her thighs and she promptly stumbled back in attempt to get out of the way of his strike. Of course she succeeded in avoiding getting her legs chopped off but she didn't think that was the Earl's main goal as her hands immediately shot down to the torn hem of her once-down-to-ankles dress. Eyes as wide as saucers and mouth open to the point she swore it was going to come off, Yuuka could only stare completely appalled at Charles who was smirking in front of her, rapier lowered to his side and hand on one hip.

"I don't know about you Yuuka-chan but I think this look is **way** better than what you had before~"

She was still speechless at what he had just done. Her eyes traveled down to the sliced tulle of a skirt that was supposed to be part of her dress but now were nothing but useless fabric on the floor. _He did __**not**__ just turn __**my**__ dress into a __**mini skirt**__!_

Rage made her blood boil and scanning around her; she made to grab the nearest weapon available; the sword the Chinese solider statue was holding. With a forceful punch to the bottom of the butt of the sword's handle, she found that the weapon easily popped up out of its hold and grabbing it, she began her assault on the Earl.

"I. Liked. That. Dress!" She spat with each swipe she took at Charles, her anger only fueled with his ever-present smirk. Yuuka continued to attack Charles who blocked all of her blow with ease (the man was practically doing it with one hand behind his back) _Well, at least now I can move more easily..._Yuuka didn't know whether to actually **thank** the white haired swordsman for shortening her dress now that she thought about it. She brought her leg up to aim a kick at his abdomen but he of course, dodged out of the way.

"Wearing short undergarments I see. Yuuka-chan you're naughty~"

Yuuka felt her face grow hot and in her rage (and embarrassment), she made a slash at the smirking Earl with a speed she never knew she could possess. She stopped raining her assault on the Earl as he jumped back suddenly to put distance between them. She was just about to make a snarky remark on why he would do such a thing when her eyes suddenly lit up with pride. Charles Grey inspected his now torn necktie in one hand for a moment before discarding it to the floor carelessly with the click of his teeth. He turned to her, smirk now looking almost wolfish with the collar of his shirt torn enough to expose his collar bone.

Sensing the approaching danger, Yuuka grew a little nervous at the results of her fluke shot at the Earl and kept her sword up in a defensive stance. She gave a quick scan around her in hopes of finding her discarded tanto on the ground somewhere. Unfortunately for her, Charles wasn't about to waste any more time _**playing**_ around anymore.

"You shouldn't take your eyes off of your opponent~" Was all she heard before her blade was knocked out of her hands and the back of her head suddenly collided against the wall hard. She groaned at the impact, clearly having the wind knocked out of her. Yuuka's head was spinning and her vision started to lose focus. Still, in the midst of trying not to pass out, she felt the familiar feeling of cool metal against her neck as well as a hot breath, breathing against her ear. _Damn you Charles Grey..._

"You know, I always found you interesting. You, a woman, who has the air of beauty and elegance around them but is skilled enough to handle weapons and defend themselves. A classic femme-fatal I would say..." The way he spoke, his voice came out husky again and Yuuka soon found her senses being taken over by the Earl's presence. He was like a drug...or more specifically a sedative of some sort but at the same time, intoxicating. Her breathing became heavier with more effort to stay conscious so she focused her eyes on the floor, blinking in hopes of clearing her vision again and not feel as dizzy. So far, not working...

Charles watched the Japanese woman struggle with her probably pounding head. He had to admit, that blow was a little hard on her but he spared no one. Watching her struggle was more than worth it. Her face was flushed from all the moving, a thin sheen of sweat formed on her neck and chest, her hair became undone in the midst of their fight and her breath came out in pants. Overall, he was **very** satisfied with his results. Charles lowered his rapier and eventually placed it off to the side (_Poor thing looks like she's about to pass out anyways)_. Biting an end of his glove, he pulled it off, tossing it to the floor and did the same for the other. Raising a hand, he uncharacteristically stroked her cheek gently, gaining her attention from being focused on the floor.

Her eyes were still hazy but her senses easily responded to a sudden cool touch that brushed her cheek. Turning her gaze from the floor, she looked up only to find herself being drowned in a pool of stormy grey that seemed to swirl with so much emotion. Yuuka felt the back of his fingers still placed on her cheek, gently caressing and her body instantly relaxed into his touch.

She heard him chuckle lightly and his fingers trailed down to her jaw in feather-like touches, making her visibly shiver. Yuuka felt his breath fan against her own lips once again, his nose brushing against her own with only a sliver of space left between their faces and no Charles Phipps to interrupt this time.

"You planned this didn't you...you bastard..." Yuuka had dared to whisper. "Give me a concussion and then take advantage of me..?" She saw the corner of his mouth twitch, the smirk once again back on his face (or was it ever gone in the first place?).

"I'm just giving you," His fingers moved to the base of her neck as he spoke, voice still low and husky. "a chance..." It trailed back up, resting finally on the back of her neck. "to taste..." She felt his other arm snake around her waist and she immediately responded by resting a hand on his chest. God, his lips were so close to her's...

"**Real** Earl Grey..." He finally finished and finally smothered her lips with his own in a heated kiss. Eyes closed, Yuuka relished in the scent she was so used to but the taste this time...It was definitely something else. His tongue easily pried her lips open and laid siege on her's. At this point in time, she didn't bother to put up a fight (her head still hurt) so she let him manipulate her tongue against his and let him swallow her moans.

Her fingers began to wander but stopped once it connected to the flesh of his neck. With the collar slightly torn (her handy work; she had to mentally laugh), she easily slipped her hand under the black shirt and gently started to rub her thumb in circles. He let out a low growl and his hand quickly unlatched itself from behind her neck to descend to her bare thigh, hooking the back of her knee up to make her leg rest on his hip. The Japanese gasped at the sudden change in position and Charles pulled back from their tongue war, resting his forehead against her's, both person panting lightly.

"So..." He started, grey eyes gleaming deviously as well as lustfully. The hand he kept her leg up started to run along her pale outer thigh, skin smooth as silk beneath his touch and he was itching to go a bit higher but he settled to just giving teasing touches. He had to tempt her... "Want more?"

She swallowed; his taste still on her tongue, her eyes half-lidded and clouded. _That was definitely better than the Earl Grey I always drink... _Yuuka knew he was tempting her; what more proof did she need other than his wandering hand. He probably very well knew that she wanted to experience that taste again; the one that she couldn't hate, the one that had her addicted in the first place but thanks to him, he took it to a whole new level of desire.

"...That wasn't anywhere near the amount I drink Earl Grey each day." Yuuka responded, voice low and her own smirk starting to form on her pink lips. A near identical one grew on the white haired Earl.

"Well, we'll just have to fix that~"

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**Extended Ending; Tease**

"Close your eyes!"

"Why~? I already saw everything last night~"

"I wasn't in the right state of mind!"

"Don't lie to me now~ you were when we-"

"Shhh!"

"-and you said-"

"Shut up!"

He giggled. She blushed. But then he suddenly grew serious.

"So you don't love me?"

"..."

He grinned, watching her face grow redder. Yuuka turned away, muttering something while bashfully twirling a lock of hair.

"So what's all the fuss about getting dressed in front of me then~? I don't even think you want to get dressed at all~"

"Charles just do it!" She finally demanded.

"Oh~? Do **what**?"

"**Close your eyes damn it!**"

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**Hahaha XD Liked the extended ending? XD R&R hope 2011 treats you well everyone! ^^**


	7. OVApt1: Mission Start

**Vietvn: Heyyyyy~ I'm backk again XD Lucky me I only had one exam this semester to do and I am done with it! One week of exam break for me~~ ^^ Which means I get to write and sleep XD So, as promised (I guess? LOL) I came up with an OVA idea for my Earl Grey story! ^^ I think I got this worked out a bit so hopefully you guys will get fast updates but for now, here's the first part! Hope you enjoy!**

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**OVA**

**Part 1: Mission Start**

"Kidnapped?" The white haired Earl echoed in disbelief as he stood before the old queen. Queen Victoria let out an exhale after dabbing away a few tears with her handkerchief. Placing the wet cloth to rest on her lap once more, she took a breath to speak from where she was sitting.

"Yes, just this morning. She must've snuck out for a stroll or something but hasn't come back since. Now I've been hearing word that there's been a lot of disappearances of women around London. No doubt probably the work of a serial killer lurking around... Oh the poor dear!" She ended with a wail, bringing the handkerchief back to her face again.

Currently, they were situated in what can be called as the throne room; Charles standing just a little away from the staircase that lead up to the platform that held the queen's throne (where said queen was currently sitting). Beside her was her ever loyal butler John Brown; stoic and silent as ever as the queen continued to have random spurts of tearing up. For once, the Earl's infamous grin was not present on his handsome, young face. Instead, a thin line replaced it and his eyes were steely, losing what playful glimmer it so often held with thin eyebrows furrowed in almost silent worry. He hadn't known about this till just recently for he had been preoccupied all morning running errands for the queen as usual with his partner.

"Any leads as to who the killer might be? An alias or some sort of description?" He asked.

"Not really. From what we've been hearing, women just disappear one day, never to be seen again. No one really caught a glimpse as to what happened, no signs of struggles or ruckus was detected by anyone who was around. The family just report to the Yard saying that their daughter, wife or whomever the victim is associated with is missing for two or three days and that something seemed fishy. They've been meaning to investigate it but so far have turned up with nothing." Charles could say now that that was the most that John Brown had ever spoken before but seeing the circumstances (the queen was still sniffling and occasionally sobbing into her handkerchief at this point), it looked like he had no choice. The young Earl began to chew the bottom of his lip; damn it...He had no solid lead...And who knows how much time he had left before this psychotic person decides to kill Yuuka...

"Grey." The queen spoke once she had calmed down. Charles stood attentive, eyes as hard as steel.

"Yes, Your Majesty?"

"By order of Her Majesty, Queen Victoria, I command that you will bring back Lady Yuuka Tomoe alive and promptly dispose of this threat." The queen said with a sternness in her voice; there was no excuse for failure whatsoever but Charles already knew that way before she had issued this as an order. Getting down on one knee, he placed a hand on the left side of his chest in sworn duty, bowing his head slightly in understanding.

"Yes, Your Majesty. I will not fail you."

As he got up from his position, he gave one final bow before turning away to head to the double doors, steps brisk and purposeful.

"Charles." He heard the queen call yet again. Charles resisted the urge to growl; he had no time to waste at this point but it was the queen he was talking to so he had to bite his tongue.

"Yes, You Majesty?" He inquired, voice uncharacteristically monotone as he side glanced to the old but powerful woman. His storm coloured eyes clashed with her pale orbs. A tired sigh left from the lips of the queen and Charles could've sworn she aged almost ten years with it. _She really is getting too old for this job..._

"Please, bring her back..." was the soft request that came soon after wards. Charles almost sighed as well at the pitiful look the queen gave him. Clearly, Yuuka was seen as almost a grand-daughter to the queen. Charles could relate to the anxiety that she must've felt at this moment but at least he wasn't about to sit around and do nothing about it.

"Don't worry Your Majesty, I intend to~" Charles replied, an almost devious smirk threatening to creep onto his lips. Quickly turning away, he continued on his way out of the palace and onto the streets of London. As he entered into the crowd of bustling Londeners, his hand constantly itched to draw his rapier in anxiety. Once he got his hands on this killer, he'll dispose of him in a slow and painful way...He didn't care how he was gonna go about doing this but he will make sure that in the end, that person will die by his sword.

He'll make sure of that and he'll enjoy every last minute of it.

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**R&R! ^^**


	8. OVApt2: Awaken

**Vietvn: Alrightyy then! I'm back with another installment to this OVA ^^ Hope you like it, sorry for any grammatical errors and yeahh...I meant to post this up yesterday but I kinda got lazy...^^; So enjoy! And don't forget to R&R! I love reading reviews!**

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**Part 2: Awaken**

She didn't remember much when she started to come to. The slight haze that seemed to cloud her head blocked any coherent thought from forming in her mind. If anything, she was almost convinced that she had a serious case of amnesia. Hazel eyes, bleary with dizziness, began to shift, trying to take in her surrounding. All she could make out were dark shapes...oh those were her black stockings...she was staring at her lap...okay...

Yuuka winced a bit, head still feeling like it was covered by a fog. _Okay, let's try remembering simple things...My name is Yuuka Tomoe...I'm eighteen turning nineteen soon...I'm Japanese...I'm currently on a visit to London, England to see the Queen...Ah, which reminds me that I'm a renown haute couture fashion designer. Currently seeing..._

She paused in her little mind rant, memories stopping on a particular Earl. A scoff almost left her lips but a wry smile tugged at the corners of it. It's been around a good two days since her...'adventure' with him. The morning after was none too pleasing for her (he wouldn't give back one article of her undergarments; said something ridiculous like how they were completely different from what normal Victorian women would wear these days though it was probably a lie). Still, they managed to successfully go about their days without anyone really getting suspicious of them or their change in relationship to one another. Yuuka could've sworn that Charles was having too much of a good time sneaking around; it was obvious he liked the thrill of it all (so much that every so often, he would corner her to sneak a few kisses -which ultimately always lead to a heated make-out session- but what's bad about that was half of the time, they were in the middle of a hallway in broad daylight! She'd have to be the one to push him away before things got out of hand). Honestly, she had to admit that it was kind of thrilling to be in such a secretive relationship but really, Charles' stunts always left her paranoid at some point (who knows, maybe that nosy maid was around the corner somewhere and saw the whole thing and she's just about ready to blackmail her).

Sighing, she stopped reminiscing on those events. Right now what was important was figuring out where the hell she was. Head a bit clearer now, she finally noticed that a piece of cloth was tied and pressed firmly against her lips, effectively muffling any sort of speech she might try to produce. Lifting her head up she made a move to brush some hair out of her face but found that she couldn't. Glancing down, she found that both her arms were tied back tightly with rope bindings around both her wrists. Struggling against them a bit more, she found that they were done pretty damn well. Moving her legs, she found them to be in the same condition; bound by the ankles. _Great, or as the English people would say, bloody __**perfect**__..._

So she was in some sort of kidnapped scenario...bound to be rendered immobile and silenced so that no one would know where she was. What was probably the only good thing about her situation was that she was propped up against a wall and not tied in a typical wooden chair. Maybe her captor drugged her to the point where he thought she wouldn't be up and about so early. Her hazel eyes darted around the room she was currently in; it looked like a master bedroom of some sort. It could also be easily classified as belonging to a noble; a very old one at that. The furnishing and canopy bed were a bit too lavishing and a bit too...gaudy so to speak to be a middle class. By the looks of it, the style of the whole bedroom seemed too outdated to still be around.

Carefully she pushed herself off the wall, slightly ruffling her dark grey, gothic lolita, caped Edwardian coat that reached to just above her knees. The edges of the small cape of the coat was trimmed with black lace, a black bow tied elegantly at the base of her throat. It was buttoned down at the front with two pockets on each side, also trimmed with black lace at the hem on the opening. Underneath she wore a pair of black cuffed shorts, black thigh high stockings, a white, long sleeved, ruffled blouse along with a low-cut black vest to go over top and finally her knee high black laced boots with three inch clogged heels.

Heaving an exasperated sigh, she maneuvered herself to get more room in order to attempt the stunt she was about to pull off (that's if she does it right). Leaning back on the floor space she got away from the wall, she made herself do a little 'hop' on her behind, bringing her bound hands out from under and then in one fluid motion, tucked her legs in to bring them fully to settle in front of her. Another sigh for the effort it took. Patting up her right thigh, she hoped and prayed that her captor was also stupid enough to think she was a helpless woman who didn't carry anything like a tanto hidden under their clothes 24/7. Smirking, she already knew the answer when she felt the familiar blade holster press against her fingertips. Hiking up her coat, she carefully unsheathed her tanto that was concealed just enough so that the bottoms of her shorts flopped over the top half of the blade. Taking the sharp knife, she placed the hilt of it so that it was clamped securely between the fissure made with her legs slightly propped up, allowing her to proceed sawing through the rope bindings around her wrist. Once they gave way, she then started to work on the bindings on her ankles.

Yuuka heaved another sigh, tearing the cloth gag from her mouth; glad to be completely free. Getting up on her feet, she kicked the remains of the rope to hide them under the bed. Looking around the vast bedroom, she saw the door double doors leading out just ahead of her. Now walking out of there would be a bad idea, anyone would know that. Even though Yuuka was convinced that whoever kidnapped her was currently out (I mean, who wouldn't hear the ruckus she was causing in the room?), she wasn't about to take any chances. The Japanese girl slowly took steps backwards, peering through one of the curtained windows; it looked too high to make a jump for it. She also took note of the time, she guessed it was around late afternoon, the sun was almost at the brink of starting to set. Just her luck...Maybe she really should take her chances with walking out of...wherever she was through the front door.

She made a move to walk to the double doors, tanto still clutched in her grasp. Just as she was about to wrap her hand around the brass door handle, a soft whisper nearly made her jump out of her skin.

"Over here..."

Whipping around, she automatically had the tanto propped up in a defensive gesture. The voice had came from within the room and sounded like that of a child. Scanning her hazel eyes around however, she had spotted no form of a child to which the voice may have belonged to. Then she thought; had there been a child in here in the first place? She didn't remember seeing one, or maybe she might've overlooked it. Cautiously, she inched away from the door, still having eyes dart all around her. A shuffle of movement caught her ears and she promptly whipped to the left where it came from. The oak wood, dusty bookshelf propped up against the wall was all that came into her line of sight. Again, Yuuka moved forward cautiously.

"Who's-..." Before she could voice her question, a click of mechanisms started to emit from the bookshelf and suddenly, a good chunk of the bottom half of it slid away, revealing a rather dark, hidden passageway. Eyes a little wide at the event that took place, Yuuka cautiously approached it and slowly, one of her thin eyebrows rose incredulously. _Okayy...? Creepy hidden passageway...do I go through it?_

Should she really be playing the role of the typical, and not to mention **stupid** female character of any horror game? And by that she meant; should she really be following this mysterious child voice that lead her to this dark hidden passageway with no source of lighting, not knowing exactly if this would lead her to either her death or her escape? It all screamed **SKETCHY** but...

A sigh; she didn't know how many times she'd done it today but maybe because today was such a ridiculous day for her. Yuuka tucked her tanto back into its sheath and crouching down on her hands and knees, she crawled through the small space. Yuuka suddenly froze in action, realizing that she was required to crawl the entire way to...wherever this passageway led to instead of just crawling through to get **into** the passageway and then being able to stand up and walk the rest of the way. Unfortunately for her, the passageway was merciless (and seemingly read her thoughts) because it had promptly slid back into place as soon as she was a good distance inside, leaving her completely in darkness.

Talk about claustrophobia. And her luck.


	9. OVApt3: One of Those Days

**Vietvn: Okayy! Third chapter to this OVA? X) Sorry if there's any OOC moments, gahh D: Charles need more manga appearance to understand him more =.= Again, sorry for any grammatical errors but please enjoy! And don't forget to R&R!**

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**Part 3: One of Those Days**

A growl emitted from the white haired Earl as he briskly made his way through the streets of London which was accompanied by a scowl to add onto the growing signs of frustrations. He didn't know how long he had been out, though he could only guess by the setting sun which was now threatening to dip below the horizon and plunge the world into darkness. He had been wandering the streets almost aimlessly; asking random shop keepers or pedestrians about the recent kidnappings of young women for majority of his day. Quite frankly he wouldn't have cared that he was assigned to do such a tedious job otherwise if only the fact that no matter how many people he'd stopped to ask, none of them had any valuable information or leads. To add onto that, he was growing tired of repeating himself and keeping on the 'professional' facade of having to ask people _**politely**_ if they knew anything about the kidnappings or if they had witnessed any of them at all.

_Stupid woman! Why did she had to go and get herself kidnapped? And by someone whose not easily traced either! Make me go out of my way to find her! I swear when I see her I'll-!_ Charles stopped his mental rantings when he accidentally knocked shoulders into someone. Feeling rather moody, Charles' scowl only deepened, turning on his heels as he was ready to give a good earful at the idiot who wasn't watching where he was going.

"I apologize for that sir!" came a quick reply from a male voice. Charles mouth, which had been ready to yell, shut almost instantaneously by the fast reply. He took in the appearance of the owner of the voice; male, mid-thirties, brown hair, brown eyes, a bit lanky, seemed almost skittish (or maybe it's because he recognized Charles' uniform), adorned what looked like a brown apron with pockets containing tools of sorts over cotton pants and a long shirt with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows (all of which looked worn) and looked to be in the middle of taking out the trash.

"Hmph, you should watch where you're going next time..." Charles scoffed after giving his offender a once-over, then proceeded to brush invisible dirt off of the shoulder of his uniform (_wearing white can be such a pain sometimes...)_.

"So sorry sir." The man repeated again, bowing his head a bit. Charles' storm grey eyes seemed to further unnerve the man as he refused to meet eyes with him. Who wouldn't be when said eyes seemed to be made to bore straight into your soul and was still fixated on you with such an intense stare. The expressionless face the Earl was wearing didn't help lessen the tension that was slowly building up around them.

After what felt like an eternity, Charles finally spoke languidly. "As you probably know, I'm Her royal Majesty's private officer. As of now, by order of Her Majesty, I'm investigating the events of recent kidnappings of women off the streets. I'm sure you've heard of it?"

"Why yes of course, it's circulating around the streets quite rapidly but it's almost doubted as a rumor because there were no eye witnesses of such event as of yet..." The man commented, seeming to relax a bit but hands still clutching onto the black garbage bag he was in the midst of throwing out.

"So I'm assuming you have no clues as to whom this kidnapper may be or know of certain areas where they usually strike?"

"No sir. From what I hear though, these disappearances usually happen at hours where there aren't many people around on the streets."

"Tch..." Charles started to grind his teeth out of frustration once again; he's heard that from probably twenty million different people already. "Be sure to report anything suspicious to the authority. We don't want any more kidnappings to occur; it saddens Her Majesty." He finally snapped.

"Yes, will do."

The queen's officer gave the man one last hard stare before blinking and turning away; continuing his journey down the streets of London once more. This time, people did well to avoid the white haired Earl; having a sense that he was in a foul mood (probably due to an ominous aura radiating from his person). Once at a good distance however, the Earl stopped and glanced over his shoulder, peering back the way he came from. The man he had spoken to earlier had just stepped back into the shop where he supposedly worked. Charles' eyes trailed up to the long sign that hung just above the shop window.

_Hmph..._He felt his lips tug into a frown, _who seriously considers stuffing animals as a job? That's just plain creepy..._

He started to walk again with eyes glaring at the sky. The natural light of the sun was starting to fail him but it was soon replaced by the oil street lamps that were now beginning to light up. Still, that didn't necessarily 'lighten' up his mood. Charles hated the fact that he was still going around empty handed with this case and that a certain someone's life was entirely dependent on whether or not Charles would be fast enough to figure this one out; and it just so happens that everything seemed to be working against him right now out of all times. God, what sort of sin did he commit to receive such punishment? Well...He guessed he could name a few...

A gust of wind suddenly swept past him, causing the ends of his coat to ruffle and leaving a dull cold feeling on his fingertips despite the black gloves that covered them. He shivered a bit from the feeling and as he finally glanced forward from out of his reverie, he noticed a small child standing about five feet away in the middle of his path, staring at him with seemingly large, soulless, dark obsidian eyes. Charles froze, a bit irked at the sudden appearance. If it was any other child, he would've continued walking but this...

His steel orbs did a once-over on the child; female, straight, shoulder length black hair with a set of too-straight-to-be-real bangs hanging over her forehead, looked to be about 8 years old, skin almost too pale to be alive, and was wearing a white Lolita styled dress that stopped just above her ankles, revealing equally white socks but highly contrasting black Mary Jane shoes. Overall, she looks like a porcelain doll behind those store windows (would probably be mistaken as one too if she was placed there; when was she ever going to blink?)

A little uneasy, Charles' eyes slid to the side, checking to see if this girl was just staring at something that was behind him. Seeing as there was barely anyone on the streets anymore at such a dark hour, he -almost dreadingly- concluded that the girl's attention was indeed, directed at him. Even so despite the weirdness of the situation, the Earl dared to start a staring competition with the strange child.

_Are kids these days so scary looking? Why is she just staring at-...Oh! She blinked; finally...Wait...Why is she smiling at me like that...? _Charles raised an eyebrow; an incredulous expression took over his face. A little more than unnerved now, he watched almost warily as the child continued to smile at him. It wasn't those angelic little smiles that you would see on children most of the time; no, it almost seemed devious.

A scowl quickly replaced any signs of wariness on the Earl's face however. "What are you smiling at brat?" He muttered disapprovingly. Shaking his head, he mentally kicked himself for wasting time on something like this. As he made a move to take a step forward, a rustle of something metallic caught his ears. Grey eyes immediately drew to the source and then soon after, widened in disbelief.

Dangling in the little girl's hands was Charles' pocket watch; the silver trinket gleaming almost teasingly against the street lamps. The white haired Earl could almost feel his left eye twitch a bit; he was never really fond of children...

Withdrawing his rapier, he pointed the tip of it in the direction of the small girl who surprisingly, didn't seem affected by it at all.

"Since harming children isn't my hobby, I'll give you a warning to give back my watch and be on your way in one piece...I have no time to play games with you." He said sternly. Though he may seem barbaric to anyone who was witnessing this -raising a weapon to a child- but really, if he was in better moods then he would've compromised with the little brat with candy or something...

Instead of whimpering in fear and being obedient to the older male, the little girl blinked her large doe-like eyes at him, giggled and then took off running down the street. Charles' eyes nearly doubled in size and his jaw almost dropped; the nerve that this girl had...

Without a second thought, he bolted after the girl; her white attire wasn't that hard to lose no matter how far away she was. _Kids these days are the __**WORSE**__! What are their parents teaching them?_

The chase eventually led him to a secluded street, seemingly an older part of London that was forgotten. There were very few signs of any inhabitants as the streets looked desolate and dark. Only a few street lamps were placed in the area but in very odd numbers; some not even lit.

"Damn it..." Charles hissed through clenched teeth. He lost sight of the little brat that stole his pocket watch and was now lost in what looked like a set out of a horror movie. Alone...Great...just GREAT. _Well...as long as there aren't any ghosts..._

"Grey."

_Clang!_

"Bloody Hell Phipps you nearly gave me a heart attack!"

His partner sighed as both men withdrew their weapons back to their respective holsters. Charles Grey cleared his throat awkwardly, still trying to get rid of the jittery feeling from that little scare. Once he was calm enough, he turned to his partner once again.

"What are you doing here?"

"I was sent out to investigate this area of London, Her Majesty plans to renew it if I deem it salvageable." Phipps then started to leisurely walk through the darkened streets as if he was just taking a stroll through the park.

Charles Grey looked at Phipps as if he just grew another head before catching up to his partner and fell into steps with him. "Haven't you heard about Yuuka getting kidnapped?" The white haired Earl asked, wondering why the hell the queen would send him out **alone** to handle such a tedious and frustrating case when his partner Phipps gets to the easier one of just investigating living conditions. Now that he thought about it, it was odd enough that the queen also didn't send the two out on the same mission like she always did.

"I have, but the queen didn't think you'll need any help with that case." Phipps replied nonchalantly though he didn't miss the first name basis Charles had used to address the missing Japanese. He too had thought it was weird that the queen didn't order him to work with his counter part but now that he thought about it, maybe the queen was on to something...Oh well, it's what the queen wished so it's best to let it be.

"What about you? Shouldn't you be investigating?"

"I **was** until some kid pick pocketed me and stole my watch. Despite that, no one seems to know anything about this kidnapper which annoys the crap out of me!" Charles said exasperatedly, just looking about ready to pull his hair out.

"You mean that kid?" Phipps asked, gesturing ahead of them. True to his words, the doll-like girl was peering out from behind one of the stone posts that stood on one side at the entrance trail leading up to a rather big, but old Victorian house. Upon being spotted, she took off running again, this time towards the looming building. Charles cursed his luck once again as he took this time to reflect on the day's events; Yuuka, a person whom he is having an intimate affair with, is kidnapped by some smart ass, leaves-no-clues-behind lunatic which therefore, leaves him -Charles Earl Grey- running around in circles because no one seems to know anything about said kidnapper. After finding no leads whatsoever, Charles Earl Grey encounters a creepy looking, little girl who just **had** to steal his pocket watch which then leads to him chasing said girl blindly down the streets of London to end up here, of all places, a desolate **ghost** town, meeting his partner along the way who is now suggesting to him that he should go into a building that is not structurally sound to retrieve what was rightfully his...

He might as well retire now and start writing his own novel...

"Well?" Phipps pried, "Aren't you gonna get that watch back? You told me one time that it was your grandfather's..."

Breathing out deeply (and in hopes of calming down his blood pressure from rising any more), Charles gave the taller man a pointed look.

"Since this is your area of investigation, why don't you lead the way?"

"Are you just saying that because you're afraid some ghost is gonna pop out any minute?"

"N-No! Who said they existed anyways? I only believe in things that I can cut with my sword..."

Another sigh escaped Phipps' lips as he began to make his way into the house, pushing aside the rusty black iron gates and trekking up the cobbled path. Charles followed behind in tow, trying to keep his eyes fixed on the house in front of him but couldn't thanks to his other senses suddenly being heightened.

Now he didn't know whether he wanted to kill the kidnapper first or kill the very person he's supposed to rescue at the moment...or even go as far as to consider causing a little bit of harm on the little girl that stole his pocket watch.

Ah...today was definitely not his day...


	10. OVApt4: Get Out

**Vietvn: I'm backk~! With part 4 of this OVA, English right now is **_**killing **_**me =.= So This took a while to get together. Again, I kinda just scanned the chapter so forgive me for any kind of grammatical errors, but other than that, Enjoy! And don't forget to R&R!**

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**Part 4: Get Out **

"Ahhh...Finally!"

Yuuka pushed open the latch and finally sighed with relief. She didn't know how long she'd been crawling but man! Did her back hurt! Stretching, she took the time to notice that the latch she had found in the passageway was actually a hidden floor board to some small, most likely, hidden room. Popping a bone and then finally straightening herself, Yuuka nearly fell over with a yelp if it wasn't for the box-like hole that kept her from doing so. What she came face to face was a life-sized ball jointed doll, it's wide eyes staring directly at her at a distance that was too close for comfort.

Placing a hand over where her heart was, she breathed in to try and calm down the erratically beating organ. Being in a dark passageway for a long period of time did have its advantages for one; being able to adjust her sight in the dark much more quickly but she definitely wasn't ready to meet head on with a doll.

After getting her nerves in order, Yuuka hauled herself up from the hole and carefully stood up (away from the doll). Her hazel eyes started to wander and she immediately wished it hadn't. There were multiple numbers of dolls situated in the room, some standing, sitting, all dressed differently from Lolita-like dresses to traditional Japanese kimonos and all of different sizes and kinds. Dolls...Dolls everywhere...And they all seemed to be staring directly at her, eying her like a bird of prey. She shivered at the thought and promptly tried to focus on something else.

Her eyes trailed along the creaky, wooden floor of the room. Squinting a bit, Yuuka could just see boxes of doll parts, also containing different variations of sizes and shapes. Some parts however, were strewn about on the floor near the boxes. The Japanese female eyed the doll head warily; such disturbing little things...

Turning her attention away from objects that were in the room, she scanned it for any signs of a door or something that would lead her out. She huffed but then coughed a bit from breathing in the dust in the air; she can't seem to find any sort of door. The walls of the room were covered in a faded red wallpaper with gold flower, leaf-like designs; it didn't even look like a door was built to this room. _Gaudy...Just like the bedroom..._

"This way..."

_That voice..._ Yuuka's head whipped to the direction of the voice but again, her eyes met anything but the owner; instead with multiple glass eyes of different colours. Sucking in a breath, Yuuka tread cautiously to where she was confident that the voice had came from (and was praying mentally that it wasn't one of the dolls that just spoke and was really luring her in to kill her).

"Who are you...?" She asked, trying hard to suppress the waver in her voice. The whisper didn't answer which only lead to Yuuka drawing nearer to the wall of the room as well as to the life-sized dolls of Lolita girls.

"Hello~?" Yuuka murmured more to herself than to the voice. _I must be going insane..._

"Through here..."

Yuuka jumped back at the closeness of the voice, eyes wide and staring at the wall in front of her. She confirmed now that the voice was definitely coming from the other side. Raising a shaky hand, she gave the wall a few taps, expecting nothing but was surprised that the knocks could be heard, echoing on the other side, proving that there was an open space beyond.

"No way..." Yuuka said to herself again but then began to almost frantically knock against the wall, hoping that there may be some sort of hidden latch, a button or something that would get her out of this room. Finding no such things, she decided she should try ramming her body against the wall, in hopes it would give way.

_Okay...okay..pick a good spot...here! This area here should be the weakest..._ Settling on a spot just near the bottom of the wall, she pushed away any intercepting objects and began to do anything she could in her power to get the passageway to break. There was a lot of kicking, punching, clawing, and cursing but still, the passageway didn't give in to Yuuka's beatings.

"Seriously!" She hissed, exasperated. Now she was just angry. Putting that frustration into energy, she basically went to throw herself against the wall, hoping that all her body weight would make the passageway finally collapse. What the Japanese girl didn't expect was the bottom half of the wall suddenly sliding open which caused her to almost barrel roll out of the small room.

"Ack! What the?"

Righting herself, she got up quickly and straightened out her clothes with an annoyed expression; muttering to herself quite angrily. Once done, she huffed and tried to breathe in deeply to quell down the urge to throw a tantrum. She was a noble lady...therefore, they don't throw fits when they're angry.

A small giggle resounded through the hallway that Yuuka was currently standing in. She froze but then bristled at the thought that this kid had the nerve to laugh at her. In fact, she was convinced that it was probably them that caused her to make such a fool of herself just now.

"Just wait till I get my hands on you..." Yuuka muttered under her breath as she scanned the area. A soft pattering of footsteps leading away from down the right side of the corridor caught her attention. Seeing as how she was virtually lost now, she immediately took to following the retreating steps. Yuuka scurried after the source but as she was now growing used to, she found no form of whom it belonged to. Maybe that drug was still affecting her mind somehow and she was hallucinating these things entirely...or maybe they're..._ghosts?_ She would rather not think so but since this was her only lead to somehow getting out this...manor (She guessed she could call it) then she had no choice but to go with it.

So for several minutes, Yuuka took to following these mysterious retreating steps or whatever noise that would indicate her to some direction. Not long, the noises ceased to exist, leaving the Japanese absolutely and not to mention, helplessly lost once again. _Maybe I shouldn't have relied so much on the noises..._ Peering around, Yuuka stared at the number of doors that aligned the hallway she was in. Would it hurt to try opening one? She figured no since now that she was lost, she might as well try to do the first thing she should've done when she had woken up; jump out a window to escape. With the thought of finding a window within one of the rooms in mind, she warily made steps to the closest door. _There has to be a window...I mean...what house doesn't have windows?_

Grabbing the brass knob, she twisted it and pushed the wooden door open slightly. A strong rush of a foul stench entered her nose and she nearly stumbled back, choking. Her free hand did however fly up to cover her mouth and nose. Okay maybe she shouldn't have picked this door...As she was about to shut the door to move onto the next, something caught her eyes from within the room.

From what she could see on the wall to the right of her vision, there were dark stains marring the tiled surface almost like...Her senses told her to turn away now but curiosity was getting the better of her. She knew this was wrong; a decision she was gonna regret. _Last chance..._ Her mind told her. Her curiosity was far too great now. _Maybe just a peek..._

And so she dared to push the door a little more open, and she nearly fell back in surprise and shock. The hand over her mouth and nose fell away from it and she was left with her mouth slightly agape. Hazel eyes widened at the sight in front of her; she had stumbled upon a bathroom (or could she really call it that now?). Like the wall she had seen before, the tiled floor was covered in the same dark stains. Trailing her eyes up, the wall ahead of her was also covered but more so near the bottom. That was where she found the source; a bathtub, which had been a porcelain white was now coloured with splatters of a deep, mahogany red and filled to almost the brim of it was what she had suspected; blood.

She easily spotted the source; what appears to be half of a body was hanging out limply over the edge. The rest was submerged in the tub. Yuuka drank in the sight, she felt herself swallow shakily as she tried to remain calm. What she could see from where she was standing, it looked to be the body of a woman. That was all she could take before slamming the door shut and stumbled back onto her behind. A few moments of just sitting, frozen with shock, her body suddenly lurched, the force coming from the pit of her stomach and she had to keep the bile that was quickly rising up from her throat down. She still felt sick and dizzy as she forced herself to take in deep breathes. Once she was sure she was stable, she got up slowly albeit shakily.

_Keep calm Yuuka...Keep calm...You know this was gonna happen when you found out that you had been kidnapped..._ Her hands unconsciously reached down to her hidden tanto and slowly, she withdrew it from the holster, the comfort of having a weapon seeming to further calm her nerves. Swallowing again, she glanced from left and right, wondering which path she should take lest her invisible guide decides to point it out. She didn't need to wait any longer for such signs, a distinctive creak of a door opening seemed to echo loudly in her ears. A sudden rise in panic filled her when she caught the noise following after it; footsteps and they were coming towards her from the right. During her time of following her guide, she knew for a certain that retreating footsteps were the way to go and for sure approaching ones were never a good thing.

In a flurry of 'fight or flight' adrenaline, she chose flight and headed off swiftly to the opposite direction. She didn't know where she was going, she didn't bother to hide in any of the rooms in fear of finding something more disturbing, but it was clear in her mind of what she had to do.

She had to get out.


End file.
